How The Big Arrow-verse Crossover Is Like The Super Bowl, According To Stephen Amell

The annual Arrow-verse crossover on The CW is only days away, and we'll soon get to see the heroes of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl join forces to battle their biggest threat to date. The four-hour "Crisis On Earth-X" crossover will take place over two nights, and the footage released so far points to some intense action. Arrow star Stephen Amell has stated that the crossover is actually like the Super Bowl, saying this:

I think that if we're going to shoot it like a big four-hour movie, we have to board it like a big four-hour movie. We have to prioritize the schedules of the people that are going to be working the most, if that's me, if that's Melissa [Benoist], if that's Caity Lotz, if that's Grant [Gustin]. It's going to change year over year based off of story. The payoff is that I've seen one cut of one episode, and it's just... It's like a four-hour escape. There are some through-line storylines like Oliver and Felicity's relationship, and Barry and Iris's relationship, and what's going on with Sara, what's going on with Victor and Franz. It really is, for the first time, it's an event. It's not a crossover anymore. Call it the crossover if you want. But it's kind of like calling the Super Bowl just a football game. Yeah, sure, they play football, but there's so much other stuff that goes on with it. It's an event.

The crossover this year evidently doesn't feel like just another crossover. ComicBook.com reports that Stephen Amell regards the 2017 superhero team-up as more of an event than a crossover like those that have aired before, which makes sense. Although there have been crossovers on The CW ever since The Flash joined the Arrow-verse back in 2014, they've felt more like separate episodes that just so happen to feature a number of the same characters. "Crisis On Earth-X" sounds more like a four-hour cinematic experience with a whole lot going on than four episodes of four TV shows.

In fact, Arrow even got switched around in the schedule to guarantee that "Crisis On Earth-X" plays like one massive event. Arrow was moved to a 9 p.m. ET time slot on Thursdays for Season 6, but its hour of the event will air on Monday at 9 p.m. ET, directly after Supergirl. The superhero action on The CW will not be business as usual for "Crisis On Earth-X." No wonder it was difficult to film!

Of course, the trailers for the extravaganza have made it quite clear that the heroes of the Arrow-verse will be facing villains unlike any who have crossed their paths before. They'll be pitted against their evil doubles from Earth-X, which is a world on which the Nazis won World War II and remain in control in present day. The existing Arrow-verse heroes will team up with the Ray during this conflict, which should be handy considering the major hero who will be absent from the action. The Ray isn't the only DC Comics character to make a debut in "Crisis On Earth-X." We can only hope that all the good guys make it out of Earth-X alive. Supergirl looks like she'll get into some serious trouble; fortunately, she's one character who we can be absolutely sure survives. After all, Supergirl is about Supergirl.

The 2017 Arrow-verse crossover event will kick off with its first two parts starting on Monday, November 27 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW, then come to an end with the other two parts starting on November 28 at 8 p.m. ET. For all the dates of when your favorite shows will return to the airwaves in 2018, take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule.